Woods: Clarke right to play

They have long been friends off the course. Now losing loved ones has drawn the Ryder Cup foes even closer together

SO TIGER WOODS is human after all. Not only did he make a premature exit from the HSBC World Matchplay Championship, the sympathy he has offered Darren Clarke comes from the heart. As Clarke, inset, continues to be stricken by grief, the American can share with him his experience of loss.

Friends since the days when they were both coached by Butch Harmon, the two have never been closer. Woods’s father died in the spring. Clarke lost his 39-year-old wife, Heather, only last month.

As the man from Northern Ireland prepares to play in this week’s Ryder Cup, Woods recalls how he dealt with a similar challenge. “The hardest thing for me was getting back out there and playing, because it was my father who introduced me to the game of golf,” he says. “Every fundamental, every basic I know, was down to my dad, so whenever I reverted back